History of Jerusalem Collection (3 vols.)

Overview

Jerusalem has figured prominently in the world’s history. As a holy city of three major world religions, it has served as the flashpoint of religious, cultural, and political tensions. As the site of the Israelite temple, Jerusalem is central to both the geography and the theology of generations of Bible readers. How did Jerusalem emerge as an important theme of the Old Testament, and what are its modern interpretive implications?

The History of Jerusalem Collection carefully examines Jerusalem’s position in the text of the Old Testament, as well as its place in the history of biblical interpretation. Understanding Jerusalem’s past is fundamental to answering today’s questions about the reading and writing of the biblical tradition, and the theological implications for today. Contributors to this collection include an impressive list of noted scholars, such as Philip R. Davies, Lester L. Grabbe, Thomas L. Thompson, and more than a dozen others. In addition to a collection volume, this collection also contains books by Ingrid Hjelm and Ben C. Ollenburger. These contributors offer new perspectives on the archaeology, history, and biblical traditions of Jerusalem. They also examine the ethical, literary, historical, biblical, and theological traditions of today.

Jerusalem in Ancient History and Tradition

In this volume, an international team of historians, archaeologists and biblical scholars discuss new perspectives on the archaeology, history, and biblical traditions of ancient Jerusalem and examine their ethical, literary, historical and theological relationships. Essays range from a discussion of the Hellenization of Jerusalem in the time of Herod to an examination of its identity and myth on the Internet, while Thomas L. Thompson’s informed Introduction queries whether a true history of ancient Jerusalem and Palestine can in fact ever be written. Contributors include:

Thomas L. Thompson

Michael Prior

Niels Peter Lemche

Margreet Steiner

Sara Mandell

John Strange

Firas Sawwah

Lester Grabbe

Philip Davies

Thomas M. Bolin

Ingrid Hjelm

David Gunn

Keith Whitelam

Thomas L. Thompson is Professor of Old Testament at the University of Copenhagen.

Jerusalem’s Rise to Sovereignty: Zion and Gerizim in Competition

In Jerusalem’s Rise to Sovereignty, Ingrid Hjelm examines the composition of the Books of Kings, using the Hezekiah narratives in 2 Kings 18–20 as a focus. She argues that this narrative is taken from that of the book of Isaiah, with which it shares linguistic and thematic elements. In Kings, it is used with the specific purpose of breaking the compositional pattern of curse, which threatens to place Jerusalem on a par with Samaria. Jerusalem traditions are examined against theories of a late Yahwist author and the Pentateuch’s origin within a Jerusalem cult. While the Pentateuch in its final form became a common work, acceptable to all groups because of its implied ambiguity, the Deuteronomistic History’s favoring of David and Jerusalem holds a rejection of competitive groups as its implied argument.

Jerusalem's Rise to Sovereignty is an important and valuable book that can be enjoyed by almost any student of the Old Testament.

—Daniel Leavins, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

Hjelm's study is a well-documented and highly sophisticated work. Scholars and students, even those who disagree with Hjelm, will find a lot of useful analysis and will have to take into consideration her arguments.

—Kenneth A. Ristau, Biblica

Ingrid Hjelm is research associate at the Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies and the Department of Biblical Studies, University of Copenhagen.

Zion, the City of the Great King: A Theological Symbol of the Jerusalem Cult

Zion, the City of the Great King is Ben C. Ollenburger’s important study of Zion symbolism in the Hebrew Bible. Filling a gap in current scholarship, this monograph is concerned with specific Old Testament texts and their interpretation. Ollenburger is not merely interested in the Zion tradition as a whole, but in the ways in which Zion is used as a symbol within specific theological traditions. He investigates the use of Zion to represent Yahweh as King and the use of Zion to display that kingship. This volume also contains a helpful summary of previous research on the topic, a lengthy bibliography of related resources, and a detailed author index.